Arrr! See CONTENTS for links to the 125 chapters of The Monstaville Memoirs plus introductions, conclusions, postscripts and appendices. This treasure trove also includes a collection of articles offering further insights into the themes explored in the trilogy. Namely, managing suffering and conflict (dealing with hostile people if you are nervous, sensitive or shy) and learning not to react

Monday, 15 December 2014

Monstaville Book II. Chapter 45

Liberation. The perfect holistic
antidote to stress, depression and other unhealthy states of mind by
Barefoot Doctor (Element,
London, U.K., 2002).

Liberation
from oppression.

p.177. People treat you according to
what you unconsciously project from within. If you’re feeling oppressed by
others, someone in particular, a group or the world in general, it is because
you’re oppressing yourself and projecting the resulting oppressive energy on to
them. As soon as you stop oppressing yourself, others will stop oppressing or
stop appearing to oppress you. When you stop oppressing yourself, no matter how
oppressive the situation may currently find yourself in, you will no longer
feel oppressed by it. When you begin to allow yourself the limitless internal
expansion your spirit yearns for and which is after all your birthright, you
will unconsciously project from within the energy of limitless expanse and your
external circumstances, including all those that people those circumstances,
will automatically begin to reflect that back at you.

[My pencilled note in the margin of
the page reads: ‘Unless they’re just being selfish and aggressive by nature!].

p.178. In respect of you feeling
oppressed, literally pushed against by others, this implies being supple (of
mind and body), not resisting the pressure by holding a stiff upper jaw and
general posture in a vain attempt to be stronger than the pressure, but to yield
to it gracefully instead, while remaining poised around your centre at all
times. Maintain a low centre of gravity by letting your mind and energy settle
in your lower abdomen and pelvic region. If your centre of gravity is in your
upper body and head instead, you’ll be unable to yield, roll and right yourself
when pressure is applied. You’ll be easily toppled to the floor, your dignity
(uprightness) lost and forced into an awkward set of manoeuvres in order to
regain it (unless, of course, you happen to be a wobbly doll who’s been trained
how to tumble).

p.179. When your centre of gravity
is held low, when you allow your mind to be supple and your chi to settle in
your belly, you yield with grace to oncoming force - rolling away from the
force without losing your dignity. The stronger the force comes at you, the
stronger it is repelled by its own momentum, while your inner being remains
unscathed and intact. The level of external oppression you feel reflects the
limitations you impose on yourself. The more you stop limiting your own self,
the less oppressed by others you’ll feel. When you have finally managed to stop
limiting yourself internally altogether, the impact of outside oppression will
no longer impinge on your person at all.

Up
till now you’ve probably thought of having a wobble (in relation to strong
external pressure causing you to lose your balance) in a negative light, like
walking a tightrope and falling off - the linear model. But now you can see the
wobbles as a positive event, a yielding, a rolling and a righting, a bit of a
game you play with life, a dance you do with oncoming pressure - the circular
model.

Now
you’ve seen how wobbling in the face of oppression can be a fun thing to do,
theoretically, get into training immediately by imbuing yourself with the
spirit of the wobbly doll. [Details of the exercise follow].

Liberation
from suffering.

p.261-262. I, like you, can dwell
upon the pain, or dwell upon the pleasure. Every moment has its fair share of
potential tragedy as well as its fair share of potential triumph. Focus on the
tragedy and it will grow until it takes the moment and you’re suffering
(again). Focus on the triumph and it will grow, until it overtakes the moment
and you’re liberated from suffering. This holds true, no matter how extreme the
circumstances, providing you don’t panic so much you can’t see the wood for the
trees.

Suffering
in the abstract sense has been passed down (mostly unconsciously) from
generation to generation and adopted (most unquestioningly) as a habitual
response (to life). Adopted (mostly unconsciously) as a perceived obligation,
as if to perpetuate it would somehow alleviate the suffering of those who have
gone before. But no matter how much your ancestors (and especially parents) may
have suffered in their lives, no amount of suffering will take that away. On
the contrary, suffering only adds to suffering, while triumph inspires triumph.

But
the time has now (surely) come, for us to choose to break the mould and drop
suffering from our agendas. And as we do, as you do, one by one, faster and
faster, others will be inspired to do so too and then maybe, just maybe, with
suffering off the agenda, we, as a species, will finally learn to leave each
other be in peace.

Even if we only succeed in doing
this sometimes it might be what keeps us afloat and saves us in the end. Such
discipline and awareness constitute a conscious practise, however, and that can
be difficult to develop into an unconscious habit. When we receive the opposite
of what we want, what we desire or need - karma or whatever - our will and our
feelings are suffering. Yet, in our minds,
we have a choice and can detach ourselves from it.

“Effort is like struggling to get
out of quicksand - it only pulls you in deeper.” - Deepak Chopra (The Way of the Wizard. 20 Spiritual Lessons For Creating The Life You
Want, Rider Books,
London, U.K., 1995, p.6).

“Picking and choosing isn’t wrong,
but it takes effort. Although we have all been taught that effort is good, that
nothing is achieved without work, this isn’t so. Being cannot be achieved by
effort; love cannot be achieved by effort.

On
a more subtle level, picking and choosing also involved rejection. The mind
focuses on one thing at a time. Before you can say, ‘I like that,’ you have to
reject all other choices. The things we reject tend to be coloured by fear. The
mind and emotions don’t regard pain and suffering neutrally; they fear and
reject them. This habit of picking a choosing winds up expending a lot of energy,
because your mind is constantly vigilant, constantly watching out to make sure
that hurt, disappointment, loneliness, and a great many other painful
experiences don’t happen again. What room is left for silence?

Without
silence, there is no room for the wizard. Without silence, there cannot be any
real appreciation of life, which is as delicate in its inner fabrics as a
closed rosebud. When mortals came to ask advice from the wizards, they did so
because they noticed that wizards don’t live in fear. Whatever happens to
wizards is accepted, even embraced. ‘How do you manage this peace of mind?’
mortals asked. And the wizards’ answer was ‘Look within, where there is only
peace.’”

(ibid.
p.21-22).

“‘Now sit beside me,’ said Merlin.
‘What did you think of the work you did?’

‘It
was pointless,’ Arthur blurted out.

‘Exactly,
and so is most human effort. But the pointlessness isn’t discovered until too
late, after the work has been done. If you lived backward in time, you would
have seen ditch digging as pointless and not begun in the first place.’”

Mantak Chia explains that, “a person
with a high centre of gravity lives disconnected from the ground.” (p.24).

p.22.Tai Chi practice integrates
physical rooting into the very way one moves through life. The practice of
psychic rooting is cultivated through meditation. Physical and energetic
rooting is developed through Iron Shirt and Tai Chi, as a support to the mental
and emotional changes that take place via meditation. One reflects the other.
The grounding cultivated through Tai Chi manifests as stability in movements.
Emotionally, it manifests as a stable personality with clarity of purpose and
full command of the willpower. As an aspect of spiritual cultivation in the Tao,
rooting is very important...

p.22-23. For optimum stability, in
Tai Chi one trains to keep the centre of gravity low in the body, in the area
between the navel, the Door of Life, and the sexual centre - the approximate
midpoint of the body. This area is known as the lower Tan Tien. Keeping the
centre of gravity in the lower Tan Tien is relatively easy as long as one is
sitting the moment one stands up and begins to move, the centre of gravity
adjusts itself to the particular movement one is doing...As one grows older,
one’s centre of gravity rises to a fluctuating point in the torso. As one
experiences negative emotions, the centre of gravity begins to travel farther
upward into the torso. When a person becomes angry, the centre of gravity can
rise up to the chest, causing enough energetic pressure to produce a heart
attack. In extreme fright, the centre of gravity may rise all the way to the
throat, making the person unable to utter a sound. By the time a person reaches
adulthood, the centre of gravity may be permanently based somewhere in the
upper chest, making the person top heavy. Thus elderly people tend to fall
easily and often need the assistance of walking sticks. The process of
relearning to become centred is easier at first while sitting or standing in one
place than it is in movement.

It has occurred to me, since reading
this, that my centre might be too high as a result of emotional
traumas during childhood. Taiji helps to pull it down to the abdomen so energy
can flow in a more balanced, and more grounded and centred, way (which aids the
release of emotions as stated in the earlier quote from this book. See Chapter II).

“The single most popular column ever written by
Regina was ‘50 Life Lessons,’ written for The Plain Dealer when she turned 50
years old in 2006. So, despite what you may have read on the Internet, Regina is NOT 90 years
old!!”

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45
lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My
oldometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else
does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to
disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying
alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first
paycheque.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is
futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up
the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no
idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you
shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.
But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get
busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in
today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer,
write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in
life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the
fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to
wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except
you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these
words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your
business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will
change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are
sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not
because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you
stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying
young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it
memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human
emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting
everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw
everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of
it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful,
beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you
loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all
you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and
show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

"Today
you have cause for celebration. Today, you should celebrate what an
unbelievable life you have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings,
and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make you stronger.
Just as a gem cannot be polished without friction, nor can a life be
perfected...without trials. Take time to acknowledge your life and to praise
yourself." – Unknown.

“The
universe is a complete unique entity. Everything and everyone is bound together
with some invisible strings. Do not break anyone’s heart; do not look down on
weaker than you. One’s sorrow at the other side of the world can make the
entire world suffer; one’s happiness can make the entire world smile.” - Shams Tabrizi.

“An
Italian, a Scotsman and a Chinese fellow are hired at a construction site.

The
foreman points out a huge pile of sand and says to the Italian guy, 'You're in
charge of sweeping.'

To
the Scotsman he says, 'You're in charge of shovelling.'

And
to the Chinese guy, 'You're in charge of supplies.'

He
then says, 'Now, I have to leave for a little while. I expect you guys to make
a dent in that there pile.'

So
the foreman goes away for a couple hours and when he returns, the pile of sand
is untouched.

He
asks the Italian, 'Why didn't you sweep any of it?'

The
Italian replies, 'I no hava no broom. You saida to the Chinese a fella that he
a wasa in a charge of supplies, but he hasa disappeared and I no coulda finda
him nowhere.'

Then
the foreman turns to the Scotsman and says, 'And you, I thought I told you to
shovel this pile.'

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Important topic

Did you know that this is the 12th and lowest universe in our multiverse and that it is founded on the energies of fear and suffering which were not resolved in the 11th?

Karma & Emotions

This e-book explores the opportunity for releasing deep emotional blockages from the past that crisis presents and the notion that this process of self-healing is an essential aspect of spiritual ascension (click the picture for more info & free pdf download)

What is, is; how we react is up to us!

"Life is 10 percent of what you make it and 90 percent of how you take it." - Irving Berlin.

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Visit my website: Antraeus.com

About Me

Born on 25 November 1965 and currently living in Yorkshire, England. I write songs and books and have a website that serves as a platform for my work as well as being an Ascension resource. The Treasure Chest displays all chapters of The Monstaville Memoirs trilogy as well as further insights from various sources relating to the themes of these books. The Powerlessness of Now reveals the many ways in which we have given our power away to the Establishment through its web of control.

“Someone asked, ‘Why is there suffering?’ [Meher] Baba gave this succinct reply: ‘Suffering is essential for the elimination of the ego, just as it was necessary for you to scrub and scrub in order to wash the stain from my coat.’" - Unkown.

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“Strong souls aren't just born. They are built by forging through the most challenging perils in life and still having the ability to shine.“ – Anon.

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“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”- Joseph Campbell.